A New Chapter
by GiraffexGirlx95
Summary: Set around the first 3 books. Fang is on the search for experiments hiding from the School. And maybe add them to the flock? Rated T for safety:
1. Chapter 1

This story is sort of set around the first 3 books. They're still running from the School, they don't live with Max's mom, and they don't work for anyone. They're older, Max, Fang, and Iggy are about 16. I may add references to later books into the story, but as far as it goes, anything past the first three books doesn't exist unless it works into the current story. Well, enjoy!

* * *

Again, Fang looked closer at the image on his laptop screen. He clicked the zoom button and the already grainy image nearly doubled in size. No, it was definitely not his imagination.


	2. Chapter 2

Well, here goes chapter one! It's pretty short, but I'm still working on the story and I have to sort of ration it out. Maybe the chapters will get longer, maybe not…Well, enjoy!

Just there, just as it had been the last twenty times he had looked, barely visible over the smiling young boy's shoulder, was a _wing_. And from what Fang could see, the feathers were so black, they had a teal tint to them. Fang had come across this photo nearly a month ago during a routine leaked-bird-kid-photo check and even though the 7-ish boy was raven-haired with almost-black eyes, he was definitely not Fang. This kid looked happy. He wasn't in a lab, and the caption read "Alex's 7th birthday". Fang had never known his real birthday.

Was this kid still alive? And if he was, where was he? Fang had every intention of finding out. The first bit of information gained was in the picture's caption. This kid had possibly lived with a family member or someone who cared enough to throw him a party in honor of his birthday. He was clean, clearly well fed and taken care of –no signs of malnutrition or abuse-, and he _was _smiling.

But this also meant that someone else knew about the experiments. They maybe even knew about the school.

They could even know about the flock.

Fang had to find this kid, fast. The picture was dated over ten years ago. So, theoretically speaking, if this kid was still alive, how would Fang go about finding him?


	3. Chapter 3

I hope your liking the story! The best way to let me know is through reviews

Fang had told Max that there was something he needed to do, an important errand he needed to run. She did not want him to break off from the flock and go out on his own. But after several hours of arguing, pleading, and promising to be safe, and as under-the-radar as possible, she agreed to let him go. Under one condition, he take Iggy.

After telling Iggy everything as they flew, from relentless searching, to finding the now 17-year-old kid's Facebook page and cyber stalking him right down to a small town on the east coast, they decided on an ambush of sorts. They would capture him, tell him as little as possible and find out what he knew, and possibly recruit him. The full story would come later, after they were sure he could trust him. It wasn't exactly brilliant, but it would work.

"Up ahead, Ig," said Fang, pointing (more for his benefit, of course). "Land in the woods. They're right behind the house. We'll just chill there till it gets dark."

"Alright," replied Iggy. "So we're just gonna…attack?"

"No, Iggy," said Fang with exaggerated patience, "we wait for it to get dark, then I we'll fly up to his window or something and try to talk to him."

"Cuz that's not creepy or anything."

"Shutup. You got a better plan?"

"Well…no…"

"Then we wait."

Fang's watch beeped, signaling the arrival of 10 o'clock. It was definitely dark now. He sat up from where he had been slumped, asleep, against a tree and tapped Iggy's hand twice. Iggy sat up from a bed of fallen pine needles, yawning.

"Is it time?"

"Yes. Quiet."

They crept out of the woods, the house no farther than 30 feet away.

"I think it's cle-." Fang shut up fast, backpedaling into the treeline, dragging Iggy with him. A light had come on by the back door. A tall, dark haired boy trudged out, carrying a black bag, presumably full of garbage. He started toward a shed near where Iggy and Fang were hiding, next to which sat two metal garbage cans.

Fang smiled. This would be much easier than their original plan.


	4. Chapter 4

Enough authors notes. On with the story!

Alexander walked towards the shed slowly, taking his time. He treasured the time he had away from his annoying, cold-hearted, scientist parents. Everything wrong with his life was caused by them. Was their fault. Literally. He had frickin' wings, for crying out loud. Who does that? Rolling his eyes at just the thought of them, Alexander dropped the bag of trash into the bin and replaced the lid. He turned to go back inside.

"Psst."

Alexander whipped back around, his hands automatically curling into fists. A dark haired, rough-looking kid in a beat up leather motorcycle jacket, not unlike his own, had emerged from the woods behind the shed.

"What do you want?" asked Alexander warily.

"Just to talk," replied the kid in a neutral voice.

"Why? I don't even know you," Alexander said in a less-than-welcoming tone.

"Well, we just might have more in common than our welcoming manners and equally fashionable jackets," snapped the kid right back.

"Oh yeah?" countered Alexander, "and what's that?"

"Well for starters, we can both fly."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do."

"You're a loon," decided Alexander.

"Look, I took a week out of my life to personally stalk you. I think I know what I'm talking about. I know who you are and where you're from. Mostly because I'm from the same place."

"Yeah? Well, prove it."

Fang, giving him a smug and defiant look, happy to wipe the smirk off of this kid's face, glanced around for any witnesses, then proceeded to spread his wings. All fifteen feet of them.

Alexander's eyes widened, an expression of shock came across his face, which he quickly wiped away.

"You have them too? I mean, I'm not saying I'm some sort of circus freak with _wings_, but I mean-"

"Oh, so you admit you have them?"

"No, I said I _didn't._ I was just wondering if anyone else you know _did._"

"Look, I've told you once, and I'll tell you again. I KNOW you have wings, okay? Just admit it."

"Fine. Okay, so let"s say…_theoretically_…I DO have wings. Are there more of u- I mean, does anyone else?"

Fang sighed, realizing this kid was just as stubborn as he was.

"Iggy."

Iggy ambled out from behind the shed, hands in his pockets.

"Yes?" He said lazily.

"Show 'im," said Fang.

Iggy rolled back his shoulders and extended his full fifteen feet of plumage.

"Wanna admit it now?" Fang asked Alexander.

Alexander sighed. "Fine, yeah I've got 'em. But put those away. I don't want my parents seeing them. They'll try to dissect you or something."

"What?" Said Iggy, looking weirded out.

"They're scientists. They work for some big fancy company. So they think they're geniuses or something."

Fang and Iggy glanced at each other uneasily, more out of habit than for practicality.

"What's this company called?" asked Fang slowly.

"Itex," replied Alexander, his lip curling slightly at the name. Then he frowned. "Why?"

Fang swallowed hard. "Your going to need to come with us. Tonight."


	5. Chapter 5

Arrah sighed. She rolled over in bed and curled up on her side. She was freezing. She had forgotten to shut the window last night, and now her extreme laziness was competing with her frozen toes. Normally, she would have gotten out of bed by now to close the gaping window, but she had actually slept well last night -thanks to a healthy dose of melatonin- and she was still savoring her wonderful dream. A dream in which, for once in her life, she was happy. A normal, social, 100% human teenager.

She shivered again and wrapped her wings around her body, as much as she could anyway. A dark purple feather tickled her nose. She snuffled and blinked, turning her face away. She reached for her phone on her bedside table and checked her messages. One, received four hours ago from her mother.

Remember to call out for dinner tonight. Your father and I won't be home till tomorrow morning. And even though we won't be home today, that does not mean you may skip school!

Arrah glanced at the status bar at the top of her iPhone screen.

11:54

She smirked. If she had bothered to care enough to go to school, she would be in 5th period. Chemistry. Ha. She knew enough about chemistry. She was created in a lab.

And anyway, she could care less about her grades. She had more important things to worry about.

Like her psychotic scientist parents.

Her parents worked for some über-enormous company call Itex, which existed for the sole purpose of ruining people's lives.

Like hers, for instance.

Every child wants to be a superhero. They want to fly, have special powers, be SUPER. But, if you named the true price for flying, mind control, breathing under water, invisibility; the explanation alone would ruin their lives. Arrah thought that flying was the most wonderful feeling in the world, soaring high above the earth where no one could bother you, feeling so peaceful she nearly forgot the price of superhuman capabilities. But her past was one that had scarred her further than just skin-deep.

Ever since she could remember, and judging by files and simple knowledge, Arrah had been an experiment. She spent her life being poked, prodded, beaten, abused –both physically and emotionally-and treated as nothing more than a scientific experiment. She didn't know what it was like to learn to ride a bike. To be tucked into bed. To be picked up and loved.

But you can't miss what you never had, right? Wrong. Contrary to popular belief, Arrah HAD emotions. She saw how a child cried and a mother rocked it cooed to it until they were content. She saw how a father swung his child up into his arms and tickled them until they were nearly in hysterics, laughing. Meanwhile, her father firmly gripped her shoulder and told her she was too old for such things.

She knew Eric was her biological father. It was in her chart, the chart she had swiped and read through at the age of two, wanting to know what those nervous-looking interns scribbled in there. She also knew that his wife, Melanie, was her biological mother. From the age of two and a half, she had lived in their house, being taken back and forth to the special hospital where they worked. No other experiments had such luxuries, but Arrah was a handful. She often broke out of her cage at night to wreak havoc on the sleeping building. Several days before her second birthday, she had managed to tear apart nearly two hundred detailed files on the current experiments of the hospital.

A month later she broke three cryogenic tanks. Two weeks later she caused a measles outbreak on floor six. Five weeks passed peacefully. Then she stuck a used needle in a doctor. The director told Eric and Melanie that she could no longer stay where she was such a danger to others.

So they took her to their house and kept her under lock and key until she stabilized.

That took four years.

But as time went on, they began to treat her as if she were simply an average child, and they, mildly disinterested, distant parents. Now, she rarely went to the hospital. She had learned years ago that it was not, indeed, a hospital, but as that had been the only name she had for if for the greater half of her life, she stuck with it.

Last night, she had dreamt that it hadn't existed. Her dreams were full of things that normal 17 year old girls' lives were full of. Friends, family, school, socializing. As simple as they seemed, they were what she most yearned for. She had no friends, except for Marc. But even HE didn't know everything. He knew that she had a tough past, that her parents were cold and distant, that she had undergone years of experimentation. He just didn't know how bad it truly was. She told him the reason she never showed her back or went swimming was because she had really bad scars and marks from the testing. He didn't know she had a thirteen-foot, purple and gold set of wings.

But he was the only person who accepted her for who she was- a freak.

He was like a brother to her. He had his own friends, though. He was normal. Arrah understood that. She let him be normal. She didn't try to bother him much, because she didn't want to drag him down with her. He was a good person. He was there for her when se needed him. But Arrah had to let him go. If her parents knew about how much he knew, he would disappear. Literally. Itex would 'dispose' of him. They didn't want snitches. Arrah needed to leave him, before he found out the whole truth.

She couldn't bear to see him die.


	6. Chapter 6

So, I realized that I have exactly NO disclaimers in this story altogether. I don't remember ever having read that I have to have them, but everyone seems to, so I guess it's only right that I post one.

Disclaimer: I own no characters in this story, excluding the ones I make up. I am NOT James Patterson, last time I checked, and I definitely don't have the work ethic to be James Patterson.

Onward and Upward.

* * *

Alex took a deep breath of the cool, clear night air. He loved flying at night. He often slipped out of his second story window for night flights. But tonight was different.

Tonight he wasn't coming back.

And he couldn't be happier.

When Fang had first shown up and told him that he knew everything: the wings, the experiments, and most shockingly, the role of Itex in it all, Alex had been startled. But when Fang showed him his _own _set of wings, and then introduced Iggy, who had them too, Alex came dangerously close to having a mental breakdown. All these years and he had _never_ known a thing about it. Not a single thing.

To say he was angry would be an understatement.

More than anything though, he was relieved to finally be free of his crazy, megalomanic parents, the constant fear of others finding out about his wings, and most of all, the experiments. As long as he could remember he had been tested on, tortured, poked, and prodded. When he was four he had been taken away from the facility he was born in, to live with his biological scientist parents, but the tests hadn't stopped. Several times a year he went back for more tests.

Not anymore. Now he was free. Iggy had told them as they flew that there were more, a whole flock of others like them. They usually all stuck together, except for the past few days in which Fang and Iggy had split off to find Alex. He wouldn't tell Alex where, but there were supposedly four others waiting for them to return. When Alex asked Iggy had told him about them. Max was the leader, who was 17, could fly at hundreds of miles per hour. Nudge was 12, and she was gifted with electronics and magnetism. Gazzy, who was 10, could build a bomb out of almost anything. Angel was 7 and she could read and control minds. Iggy was blind, but his other senses were amazingly sharp. He was a master chef and could feel, yes _feel _colors. Iggy also told Alex that Fang was second in command, also could fly at warp speed, and he could turn invisible.

That last fact disturbed him. Alex didn't tell Fang and Iggy about _his _powers. He wouldn't, either, until he was sure he could trust them and their flock.

When you're raised by evil scientists, who also happen to be your parents, you tend to have trust issues.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Don't own the flock, wish I did.

* * *

Arrah was bored. When she had finally been able to pull herself out of bed, she had gone on a rampage through the three-story mansion she reluctantly called home, breaking valuables, ripping curtains, and making a huge mess. She smashed china, glass, and knocked over furniture. Then she ripped open the safe in her parents room, after savagely beating the lock with a sledgehammer. She stole any valuable piece of jewelry her mother owned and buried it deep in the woods behind her house. She made sure no one would ever find it.

After that, she had been sitting in front of a computer for eight hours. The computer was her parent's, and it always sat in their office. It contained every single file that they had access to at work. Including her file. It wasn't updated much these days, only when something changed or she went in to the hospital for tests. However, there were thousands of other files contained in the massive, several hundred TERABITE hard drive. Thank God for company credit cards. She had been doing something she intended to do for ages. Copying each and every single file onto a series of high memory thumbdrives, about 10 total. It was a long, grueling labor, and the only reason she felt safe doing it now was because she didn't have to worry about being caught in the act.

She leaned back in the expensive leather chair and stretched her arms out in front of her, cracking her knuckles simultaneously. Yawning, she grabbed the last thumb drive and closed out of the database, deleting her actions out of the computer's history, typing in commands rapidly to fully erase her actions. When she was done, she downloaded a malicious, computer scrambling virus from a cd. The cd was specially engineered by her to seem as if the virus contained in the inner core of the computer, a flaw in the design that spread outward, destroying years of records. It would also spread through the network connection and ruin the connected laptop her parents had with them at the company convention as soon as they turned it on. She was no rookie.

She couldn't contain an enthusiastic fist punch. She had worked for weeks on this virus, whenever she was home alone, using a laptop her parents had no knowledge of her owning. She headed back to her room, zipping the thumb drives into a small pouch. She put the pouch, along with her 'nonexistant' laptop, into a backpack. She also grabbed her new iPhone she had purchased the week before with cash she had saved up (and not told her parents about), a pair of new earbuds, a huge amount of cash she had swiped from her parent's safe, a handful of throwing knives, a few articles of spare clothing, and stuffed that all in the backpack as well. She donned a pair of sturdy new sneakers, her favorite jacket, and her gray beanie. Then she headed out the back door, leaving it ajar as she went.

* * *

Arrah had now been trekking through the woods for an hour. Up ahead, she saw a familiar wide tree. It was a strange tree, growing out of the ground at two places, becoming one at several feet up, leaving a gap almost big enough for an average person to squeeze through.

Arrah was smaller than an average person. She was tall, but exceptionally narrow and flexible. She squirmed her way into the gap and groped around in the hollow trunk until her hand hit a roll of plastic. She wiggled her way back out and carefully unwrapped the bow and quiver contained in the tightly wrapped tarp.

She had realized at the age of ten that she would eventually need a weapon when she escaped her parents someday. Not being able to get her hands on a gun, she had bought the bow online, using an ebay gift card she had bought with cash that she had saved up in small, unnoticeable increments. She had later procured several knives in a similar manner. She had practiced obsessively during the hours her parents were not home, in the woods. She was a perfect shot with her bow and her knives never missed their target.

Arrah shouldered the quiver, arranging it so it wouldn't knock into her backpack as she walked, and strung her bow, knocking an arrow to ensure she would be ready for any attack that could happen.

She started off walking, figuring it would be best to make it as far as possible from her house before taking off, so no one would see her. She kept her eyes and ear open, listening intently for any signs of movement in the now dark forest. Occasionally she glanced skyward, checking for an attack from above.

Just as she was considering stopping for a drink and a moment of rest, she heard something above. A flapping of wings. More than one set. She had read in the Itex files that they now had a group of thugs that went out and caught escaped experiments. They were lupine human hybrids with wings. And they were coming fast. Not waiting for them to make the first move, she rolled into a kneeling position, pointed her bow upwards, and released an arrow. What she heard next shocked her.

"AHHHHH SOMETHING HIT MY WING! FANG, HELP!"

A dark figure tumbled from the trees, landing feet from her. It was a boy. With WINGS! She scrambled behind a tree. He could be bait. He had called for help, thus meaning he was not alone. Someone else was coming now. Two someones. She saw two teenage boys land and rush to the other's aid. They both had black wings and leather jackets on. The kid on the ground had brown and white wings, one of which was covered in blood.

"Who was that?" asked one of the boys, anxiously looking around.

"I don't know." answered the other. "They could still be nearby though. Keep watch while I patch up Iggy."

"Is that an _arrow?"_

"Yeah, it hit a bone and and big vein. Now stand watch, I have to see what I can do and I don't want to get shot trying."

Arrah was relieved that the still-thick fall foliage had blocked her sight enough that she didn't kill the bird kid. Even if he was one of the bad guys, chances were he had suffered similar things as her to get those wings, and she would feel awful if he died a painful death.

Arrah watched the kid attempting to repair 'Iggy's' wing. He was attempting to wrap it, but he couldn't keep a good grip on the bandage and the wing simultaneously. He needed help and clean bandages, not the rag he was trying to use. She could help them. She should help them.

Arrah stepped out from behind the tree.


	8. Chapter 8

So, it's been ages. I kind of forgot about it. And I've been busy and lazy. I want to continue posting, but I have absolutely NO guarantees as far as when I will post again. I just have horrible cases of writer's block sometimes. Reviews are SO helpful for the improvement and furtherment of the story, but don't feel obligated to if you don't want to. Anyways, here goes!

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, I swear.

* * *

Fang heard the faintest of rustling from behind him as he was attempting to wrap the still squirming Iggy.

"I thought I told you to _keep watch_, not stand around, breathing down my neck."

"What?" called Alexander, from at least 50 feet away.

Fang whirled around, immediately popping up into a defensive crouch, ready to defend himself against his attacker...

...who turned out to be a teenage girl, about as big around as a matchstick. She had a bow hanging limply from one hand and a regretful expression on her face. "I am SO sorry!" she cried, her eyes wide. "Is that a...wing?"

"No! Nope!" Said Fang, hastily scootching in front of Iggy, blocking him from view. Who was this girl, and what was she doing, running around shooting winged teenagers? "Who are you, anyway?"

The girl looked at him suspiciously, and leaned a little to the side, raising her chin in an attempt to see over Fang's shoulder. He moved over a little farther, blocking her view again. "That would be none of your business."

"I do, in fact, believe it IS my business, as you just put an arrow through my friend here." Fang gave up on his attempts to shield Iggy, who was bleeding all over the place, and went back to staunching the blood flow with a torn up t-shirt. Whoever this girl was, Fang had to get away from her fast. Where did she even come from? They had a schedule to keep, and Max would not take too easily to them not being back on time, with ONE extra.

"He'll most certainly bleed out if you continue to wrap his wing in such a ridiculous manner,' she said, gesturing to Iggy.

"Well I don't exactly have a five-star medical staff and an arsenal of sterile medical supplies on me today," snapped Fang. "Maybe if YOU hadn't shot him, this wouldn't even be a problem in the first place!"

"Look, I said I was sorry." This girl was starting to get on his nerves. She had seen too much, and Fang needed to get rid of her before she went and posted about it on Facebook or something. The flock did not need that kind of attention, especially when Itex was already searching for them.

"Alexander," called Fang. Maybe he could do something about her while Fang took care of Iggy.

"Yeah?" Alex jogged up, his piercing green gaze first going from Fang, to Iggy, and finally coming to a rest on the girl."Who're you?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could respond, Fang interrupted her. "Doesn't matter. Get rid of her, we gotta take care of Iggy and get going."

"GET RID OF ME? What's that supposed to mean?!" Her voice had risen several octaves, and she looked livid. "Are you going to kill me?"

Alex gave Fang an exasperated look. "I have to _kill _her?"

"No, not like that! Just get her out of here, so we don't end up dead!" Fang was getting severely agitated. Iggy was still bleeding, Alex was acting stupid, and it was all that damned girl's fault. What were they going to do with her?

Fang didn't have time to put further though into that because, at that moment, three things happened at once.

One: Iggy finally stopped bleeding.

Two: Alex lunged at the girl, planning to grab her,

And three: The girl busted out a pair of green, blue, and brown _wings_ and flew up into the nearest tree, knocked an arrow, and aimed straight for Alexander's heart.

The second ended and Fang and Alex froze.

She had the wings of a peacock.

* * *

Just to get things straight, I know a peacock's wings aren't brown and green, but I mean their tail feathers. Google and image. They're beautiful.

I know that there is a fair amount of dialogue, but is there enough emotion? Enough description? Let me know.


	9. Chapter 9

Alrighty. I'm trying to update more often! I really hope this story will make it somewhere! Suggestions are welcome, as is criticism, comments, and compliments!

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, I am not James Patterson. (That what I'm supposed to say, right?)

* * *

"_What do you think your doing?" _Yelled Fang. "You kill him, then what? I'll kill you. Your outnumbered here."

Without a single word or change in emotion, she slowly returned the bowstring back to its resting position and reached behind her, to her quiver. She grabbed another arrow, placed it above the other, and turned her bow so now both Iggy and Fang were caught in the crosshairs.

Fang's smirk faded rapidly.

"Look," said Alex, hands still held up, in clear sight, "we are not going to hurt you, promise. Please just put down the bow, and let us talk to you." His voice had taken on a soothing, persuasive tone. "Just come on down from there. We're on the same side here, come on."

The girl, looking skeptical, lowered her bow and sighed. "You make one wrong move, I'll put one of my arrows through each of your foreheads, and not even give it a second thought."

"Alright, that seems fair," said Alex agreeable, ignoring Fang's incredulous look.

"Your kidding. That does not seem _fair._" Fang looked furious. "She SHOT Iggy, she just tried to shoot us, and now she claims she will if we do anything she doesn't like. _We're _the victims here." This was all said at a tone that the crazy archer girl couldn't hear from her 10 foot high perch.

"Let's just give her a chance to explain herself. Maybe she's one of us. We could use her help, you know." Alex clearly had a soft spot for her already. This would not go well.

"Explain herself? Why? So she can lie some, then shoot us? No way."

"She's not going to shoot us. She's just scared. Did you see her backpack? The way she was acting? She isn't angry, Fang, she's scared. She's probably on the run, too, like us. Give her a chance."

Fang let out a gust of air. "Fine, fine. But if she grabs that bow again, I'm throwing you in front of me."

"That won't matter. By the time you register me taking aim, you'll already be dead." Fang started violently. He hadn't seen nor heard her slipping up next to him. "And for goodness sake, my name is Arrah. Enough with this "She" thing."

"Alright, Arrah," said Alex cheerfully, "tell us more about yourself."

Something was off with the way Alex was speaking, Fang noticed. He sounded too...chipper. Fang shook his head, dissmissing it. He barely knew the kid. How would he know?

Arrah took a deep breath. "What all do you want to know?"

"Start with the wings," Alex said soothingly. "How did you get them? I have them too, see?" He spread his black wings, not black, Fang noted, they were a Teal color, so dark, they appeared black, not the other way around as he had originally thought. "So does he," Alex added, gesturing towards Fang.

"The hard expression on Arrah's face had faded gradually as Alex spoke, and now she looked completely calm. "My wings are this color because I have peacock DNA. There's something else too, so I can actually fly for longer periods of time, faster too."

"What about where you live?"

"I live a few miles that way." She pointed with her thumb, over her shoulder. "But I ran away."

"Who did you live with?"

"My...parents..." Arrah trailed off. She suddenly stiffened. "What are you doing?" she snapped, sounding suddenly furious.

"What do you mean?" Alex looked sympathetic.

"Stop it! Stop talking like that!" Arrah was boiling with rage.

Fang chose this moment to step in. "What do you mean?" She was suddenly freaking out, for no reason. Alex had just asked her some questions... questions. Fang was confused. What were the questions about? The memory was hazy, but it had only happened...when? He couldn't remember. "Why are you so mad Arrah?"

"Can't you hear what he's doing? The way he was talking? All soft and quiet like that, what was he saying?"

"What do you mean? He's not saying anything!" Something was wrong with this girl.

"Not now, a minute ago! I was talking about...about... See? What are you doing?" She was yelling at Alex now. What did he do to deserve that?

Fang turned to Alex. "What is she talking about?" Alex looked completely bewildered.

"What are you two carrying on about? I was asking her questions about her wings and her parents. I don't know what's so confusing about it."

"Your voice sounded funny," croaked Iggy. Everyone, completely forgetting that he was even there, jumped.

"What do you mean?"

"It just...changed. It became all smooth and convincing."

Fang's heart sank in dismay. He'd read about this in Itex's files. Occasionally, experiments were given special powers. Powers of persuasion. Itex could use them, and with their powers, could obtain information from anyone.

Fang turned to Alex. "Congratulations, Alex. Your a charmspeaker."

Alex blanched. "A what?"

* * *

Well, I hope that turned out as well as it did in my mind...when it gets late, I find myself writing in a ridiculous, flippant manner. I've turned in many a last-minute flamboyant paper, due to my late night insanity...


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